AuthorTopic: Microscope: McCartney II (Read 5190 times)

I must admit that I didn’t have high hopes for this album in advance. It’s been in the cupboard for thirty years or so, collecting dust. I only heard Coming Up on the radio occasionly and that was about it. I did not listen to this album since probably 1982. I remember I didn’t really like Paul’s experiments with synthesizer and drumcomputers. Where had the songs like Getting Closer gone?Fact is that with McCartney II, Paul started a new era in his musical carreer. The times of Wings were over and I guess Paul was trying something different. Now, in 2012, I tried to listen to the album without prejudice and like it was released yesterday. In the past thirty years, we have been struggling with all kinds of electronic music, loops, samples, housebeats and other stuff. I’m not saying I like it, but I’ve grown accostumed to it, which give me a different impression of McCartney II. I’m convinced that should this album had John Lennons name on it, it would have been praised over and over for ‘being able to look further than the beaten path’. Funny thing is that Paul made this album. I’m not saying it’s all good, but I have respect for him coming up with this album that is different than what he had done before. Well, that is, there is some resemblence to McCartney (I), but I do like this one better. There is some nice stuff with synthesizers that may sound kinda normal these days, but were a revolutionary thing in 1980. I dare to state that Paul McCartney reinvented house, loops and sampling with this album. Created in the heat of punk, new wave and disco. John Lennon on the other hand released Double Fantasy in the same year, one of the most disappointing post-Beatles album ever.

Coming UpAlthough the Live At Glasgow-version is valued the better among fans, I don’t mind this album version at all. The drumming is standard, as is through the complete album. Paul just isn’t a very good drummer. He can keep pace, but that’s about it. It’s not really fluent. The rhythm is usually saved by Paul excellent bass and that’s the point with this song as well. I don’t think the ‘brass’ is played with real instruments, but they make a great addition to the song. Vocals are pretty good as well: Paul would wish he could like that nowadays. Certainly not a one take song and it was well worked out: there’s known rehearsals of this song with Wings. As stated, the song was a great live song as well.

Temporary SecretaryFunny, weird song. Thirty years ago, I absolutely hated the constant loop, but it doesn’t matter to me that much anymore. The synthesizer combined with the strange guitar chords create a remarkable sound. The drums sound awful. Lyrics are pretty funny for an non-native speaker like me. The chorus got stuck in my head for days. What are those strange bird-like sounds towards the end of the song?

On The WayThe first thing I noticed was the enormous amount of delay and reverb on Pauls voice. Terrible. Drumming is not very fluent again, to put it diplomatically. Lead guitar sounds okay. Bass doesn’t do any special things. Comes close to much of the McCartney I-album, the song sounds like a leftleftleftover from ten years ago. A certain skip.

WaterfallsRidiculous lyrics in a love song. That’s some kind of experiment. When you don’t take too much notice of the silly verses, what’s left is a good ballad. The keyboards in the far background create a nice atmosphere. Listen to that in the choruses for example. The acoustic guitar at 1.00 is a nice addition. Paul’s voice sounds as if he’s going to break any moment. Great low synthbass starting at 2.12. Love that, never noticed that before. I could well live without the last verse (Don’t run after motorcars), the point is pretty clear by then. I always felt that Paul is trying to cover up a mistake in the bass at 3.58.

Nobody KnowsThis sounds like McCartney I as well. Terrible drums once again, Paul skips a beat here and there like he did in I’m Looking Through You. Lead and rhythm guitar sounds as if it was played by a twelve year old George Harrison. The usual Paul McCartney singalong. Simple 12 bar chord schedule. Any starting band can play this kind of song and probably better.

Front ParlourInstrumental. A loop chord thingy and Paul plays a melody along with it. That is not a bad melody at all. And at least the drum computer does the job better than Paul. Nothing more to add really.

Summer’s Day SongYawn. Paul brings another ballad, but this one is pretty boring. The keyboards songs like a church organ here and there and that does not really add to a lovely atmosphere. The electronics fail to create a balladish thing. Paul’s harmonies with a lot of reverb (around 2.30) sound like a boys choir as well. Not my piece of cake.

Frozen JapIs this written during the nine days of Japan prison? The melody of the synthesizer from 0.40 sounds like Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cindy Lauper. The melody is nice enough, the rest is pretty standard. Drum computer is just a beat and the synthbass is nothing special either.

Bogey MusicAgain lots of delay on the vocals, although it’s getting better towards the end. Makes it pretty hard to listen to. The only highlight is the melody in the guitar break (0.39-0.58 and later again). Furthermore is another 12 bar standard thing. Nothing special.

DarkroomUsually regarded as the albums weakest song, I think this is pretty interesting. Lots of cool synthesizer sounds and Paul’s voice is pretty good. Bass coming in at 0.40. Maybe the vocal/synth sounds are a little bit to loud in the mix. Drumming is not good again. The song is speeding up towards the end and a change of rhythm in the last few bars. Not one of McCartney’s best ever, but I don’t mind this one.

One Of These DaysAcoustic guitar for a change and immediately there’s the recognizable McCartney back on track. Is that a Linda harmony at 0.57? This is the least experimentally track on the album, just Paul and a guitar. Nice song.

Bonus tracksCheck My MachineHi George – morning Terry. This is supposed to be the first song Paul recorded in the complete session. Hence the name of the song. Great bass at last and a tempting lick in the rhythm makes it dancable song. The lick starting at 1.40 sounds like it was taken from a Disney animation film. Nice. Paul sings in a falsetto with a lot of reverb which makes the lyrics unlistenable. It doesn’t matter. The only thing is the song is far too long. I could have done with half of it.

Secret FriendI love this song. The loop create a hypnotizing atmosphere, although it doesn’t match exactly on all the transition. There’s a little rhythm guitar in the background, plus all kinds of interesting sounds. Bass adds wonderfully to the complete hypnosis and so does Pauls voice. I listened to the full length version (10.32) and it didn’t bore me anywhere.

All in all, a good side 1, a pretty bad side 2 and two bonus tracks that should have been on the original album.

I see the time has finally arived. I suppose i'll go cough up the dust as I break this horror out for the first time in eons. Who knows, maybe i'll be surprised and something jumps out this time, but i'm not making any reservations for that.

I see the time has finally arived. I suppose i'll go cough up the dust as I break this horror out for the first time in eons. Who knows, maybe i'll be surprised and something jumps out this time, but i'm not making any reservations for that.

I listened to it on the way to work in the car and it was worse than I remember. I was going to load it on the ipod so I could do the review tonight, but even my computer rejected this horror. I cant blame it. Everytime I would try to load the cd, itunes would freeze. I should have taken that as a sign.

Review coming probably this weekend, but I seriously cant think of even one song thats decent since I listened to it. Even Waterfalls sucks and I used to take up for that one. Oh well.

I listened to it on the way to work in the car and it was worse than I remember. I was going to load it on the ipod so I could do the review tonight, but even my computer rejected this horror. I cant blame it. Everytime I would try to load the cd, itunes would freeze. I should have taken that as a sign.

Review coming probably this weekend, but I seriously cant think of even one song thats decent since I listened to it. Even Waterfalls sucks and I used to take up for that one. Oh well.

Oh dear. I wish you all the best while ploughing your way through this album. lol

I've listened to it 2 times so far and... I don't know what to think of it. I didn't like anything on the spot and not many songs made me wanna come back. And it's definitely less accessible than 'McCartney'. But as I've said before, I'm not a fan of Paul doing this kinds of unfinished and superficial songs. I like the idea of being spontaneous and playing all the instruments by himself, but I think it'd be better for Paul to try and finish his songs (add lyrics etc.). But I'll keep listening to the album, of course.

Coming UpFunky guitar, funny vocal effect, strange bass sound. Brass parps are appreciated. Around 1:50 the bass does this building thing, it's very good. The lyrics are incredibly positive. Tempo change into the coda, tamborine is there then it's not, gets a touch relentless towards the end and then that's a great finnish. Overall a groovy, refreshing song. Unlike anything we'd heard from Paul before, I'm in full favour of this track.

Temporary SecretaryI like the synth loop. The drums are different to me but they fit. Love the downward bit during the "Neurosurgeon" part. It's kind of a dark track to me. Paul going "Woooa" towards the end works. A bit throwaway but it's a catcht tune, left me feeling like I need a "Temporary Secretary" (I have the time to do this so I probably do).

On The WayNice guitar intro... I dig the effect on his voice. Bass is a bit diffident. It's a song to drive to. The drums are nothing special but they are unfussy. 1:45 the break is nice, 1:57 the break is very nice, it's a groove. Guitar tracing the vocal is good, nice "Oooo" in there also. Bass is good at the end.

WaterfallsBeautiful. The organ is haunting, melody is something else. Nice acoustic break. Around 1:30 another synth comes in which builds it. "Don't go chasing Polar Bears, In the great unknown, Some big friendly Polar Bear might want to take you home..." Portentious lyrics there. 2:50 extra effect on vocal is good, like the tracking on the "Motorcars" verse. A very nice tune, the end is good also.

Nobody KnowsBut what exactly? He cannot tell me, nobody knows... Nice vocal. I like the breakdown around 2:00, nice percussion, a bit filler.

Front ParlourThe same melody from the previous tune I swear. Sounds so happy somehow. It's good fun. There's a synth in there that sounds like a frog on a ring modulator. Nice refrain. It makes me smile. 2:38 there's a good build-up, 3:00 another build. Very good, then it runs out of steam. A good nonsense.

Summers' Day SongWhy does the intro sound Soviet to me? What a melody. ONe of Macca's best stoned moments, the slight words are good, it's a poem really. A fine example of the synthesiser. 1:47-2:22 is incredible, delicious. The tracking on the repeat verse is exceptional. Another good ending.

Frozen JapDefinate Jap sound. I think it needs a vocal (not faux Japanese either). Drum machne is too much here. I'm waiting for it to end actually... it's gone past the 3:00 mark... 3:39 it ends. Thankyou. Passer.

Bogey MusicSilly. I dislike the out of time echo. Nice guitar throughout mind. Out of time claps in the left channel, bass picks up around 1:50. 2:16 Bass is good. 2:30, OK you can stop now. Another minute and after Paul calls me a "sucker" it stops. Passer.

DarkroomThis is better, inviting, funky bass around 40 seconds, great tracey bit. It grooves. Tempo picks up, that's better. This is crazy. 2:08 is great. It stops, it was just getting good.

One Of These DaysInspired by Krishna. Nice sentiment, I like the tracking and echo. Is that Linda around the 58 mark? It's an elegy, nice shimmer of guitar at 2:20. I like the tone on the ever after. A nice song, nothing special, just nice.

A rather large departure from anything Paul had released before, it's compelling, one that also works best as an album in it's entire form. It's an interesting curio but it's not bad. Bonus tracks to follow...

Can't wait for the microscopes of John's albums, but there's still a long way to go with Paul's...

We didn't do Wings Over America which is a big album (indeed I've never heard it in its entirity) for reasons of alot of duplicate songs, may I suggest we skip Broadstreet? It's full of fair versions of duplicate songs, theres only about 3 new songs on there so may I also suggest that we review No More Lonely Nights, Not Such A Bad Boy and No Values along with the God-awful Pipes Of Peace album? Indeed I think there's about 10 more of these Paul Microscopes and 7 John ones before we get to Georges' 10 albums. The George ones I really want to see how our ideas differ/match about those ones as nobody ever, ever since I've been here have really said anything about them as far as I recall.

Well, here we go. Its no secret that this is not my favorite album, but I’m going to go into this with an open mind and see if anything has changed. On my way to work the other day I played it in the truck and didn’t care for it as usual, but when you put on a good set of headphones, things have a way of changing sometimes.

Coming Up - Here’s the deal. There are three versions of this song. There is the live version which is very good, the single version which is the most recognizable, and then there is the album version which kind of stinks and is the worse of the three. Where the single version sounds tight and pops, the album version sounds like a mess. It drags, sounds sloppy, and has weird things happening in it. The bass is nice and deep and the guitar is clean. The echo effect on Pauls voice is horrible and the electric kazoo sound effect is awful. The whole song just sounds shallow. The electric oboe or whatever that goes up the scale during a few parts is all over the place and just sounds out of the ordinary. 2:29 Paul adds some handclaps on the and beat and it sounds terrible. Its more pronounced at the 3:00 mark. Stupid. This version sucks and unfortunately its probably the best song on the album.

Temporary Secretary - A constant synth loop with processed drums. The acoustic guitar sounds good. I puked a little in my mouth when the course comes in singing ‘Temporary Secretary’. Pauls voice sounds silly. It comes across as a moan, like a mentally challenged person is singing. Awful. I’m half way through the song and I feel myself wanting to cry. The synth loop is too much for me. Its so bad that all I can think about is this song coming out of the loud speakers at a prison camp as a way of torturing people. I don’t think I could take this song being played over and over again. I’d break in a matter of minutes and give them whatever information they wanted. One of the worst songs I’ve ever heard in my life.

On The Way - A four count intro in a stupid voice to start the song. Its basically a 12 bar blues song with Paul singing in an echo voice again. The guitar sounds alright, but the drums are bad. They sound bad and there’s just no soul in the playing. I’ve made my mind up that Paul just isn’t a very good drummer. He gets by, but nothing more. This song is boring and any band could do something like this and probably better to be honest. Pass.

Waterfalls - There’s a horrible bass like hiss in the background. Is this my headphones or is this the song? Whatever, I’ll move on. Pauls voice sounds decent, as does the acoustic guitar and the organ is pretty good sounding. I do want to give a shout out to the three year old that helped Paul with the lyrics. Dreadful. No wonder Paul gets made fun of sometimes. 2:13 mark, I dig the electric cello bass thing going on in the background. The song is boring and monotonous over all and I don’t have as much respect for it as I used to. I think I used to like it better before because it was one of the least offensive songs, but its not something I would ever go searching for to listen to again. Pass.

Nobody Knows - Yeah, an upbeat number with horrible sounding drums, twangy guitar, and more echo effect with the voice. Paul just needs to quit playing the drums all together at this point. 1:30 mark is so amateurish that I laughed. The lead guitar playing is weak and the constant percussion thing in the background that sounds like a hi hat is killing me. Terrible song. Another high school garage band effort.

Front Parlour - Great, Paul trying to play Axel F or something. Layers upon layers of synthesizer and electric instruments playing the same thing over and over. Half way through and I’m irritated already. Awful. Not sure how anybody could ever want to hear something like this. Its an instrumental by the way.

Summer’s Day Song - Processed strings and a double tracked Paul singing. Slow number that would have worked better with actual instruments. First Linda sighting (I think) at 2:22. It might not be Linda actually. It might be Paul singing in different octaves. Sounds good though. This song isn’t awful, but its something Paul could slap together in about 5 minutes. Nothing impressive.

Frozen Jap - Another instrumental filled with synthesizers and handclaps. I hate processed drums and these are bad. This is the song that almost had my daughter doing the tuck and roll out of the truck while I dropped her off at basketball practice on my way to work. She said it sucked and I had to agree with her. 1:01 mark has some wonderful handclapping going on and that was a bunch of sarcasm if you didn’t realize it yet. I would have to be stoned on straight ecstasy to even tolerate this crap. Horrible.

Bogey Music - Oh God, please make it stop. A 50’s type of rocker with processed sounds and a drum machine. Lets not forget the weird, silly, cute voices too. 1:42 sounds like something lifted from Adam Ant. Need I say more? Garbage.

Darkroom - I’m starting to get p*ssed at this point. This song is a cross between something War would sing and something a group of African natives would chant except for there’s little alien voices in the background singing come on, cocoa, and other sh*t. 1:44 the song speeds up for no apparent reason. I’ve run out of adjectives to describe how bad this is. This causes me to be ashamed to even listen to Paul McCartney.

One Of These Days - Nice acoustic guitar, but the ever happening echo voice is getting old already. 0:30 was it Pauls attempt to sound as stupid as he could singing ever after? If so, he succeeded. The song just doesn’t do anything. Its stale and boring. Craptastic.

***Bonus***

Check My Machine - “Hi George - Good Morning Terry”. Oh boy. More weird voices singing across a bass line and a drum loop of Wall Of Vodoo’s ‘Mexican Radio’. People, this stuff is just terrible. I’m not making it up. Vomit.

Secret Friend - Another synth loop being played at different speeds and octaves with piercing sound effects and a wood block. 1:00 a little funk guitar comes in for a brief second and sounds good. I cant take it anymore guys. I’m emotionally and physically spent at this point. Just exhausting. I’d rather have my spleen ripped out then to listen to another minute.

Goodnight Tonight - I like this song, but its not even a bonus song on most of the releases. It was just a single that Paul threw on it to help it sell a little I think. Killer bass line and I love the Spanish guitar at the beginning. The bass playing is truly the best part of the song. Linda is welcomed here. The little synthesizer pops here and there are dumb. Nice double lead guitar solo. I always liked this tune. Not anything great, but it doesn’t bother me if I hear it every once in awhile. The Spanish guitar playing is really good. Alright song that is better than anything on the album, but its not even part of this record.

This was a chore to listen to. It really wasn’t enjoyable at all. Ollie wont want to hear this, but there isn’t one song on this record that’s better than even the worst song on ‘Back To The Egg’. Just a dismal effort. Complete and utter sh*t. This is seriously the worst album I have ever listened to in my entire life. I hope I never have to listen to it again for any reason.

Coming Up - Here’s the deal. There are three versions of this song. There is the live version which is very good, the single version which is the most recognizable, and then there is the album version which kind of stinks and is the worse of the three. Where the single version sounds tight and pops, the album version sounds like a mess. It drags, sounds sloppy, and has weird things happening in it. The bass is nice and deep and the guitar is clean. The echo effect on Pauls voice is horrible and the electric kazoo sound effect is awful. The whole song just sounds shallow. The electric oboe or whatever that goes up the scale during a few parts is all over the place and just sounds out of the ordinary. 2:29 Paul adds some handclaps on the and beat and it sounds terrible. Its more pronounced at the 3:00 mark. Stupid. This version sucks and unfortunately its probably the best song on the album.

You researched that one well, Todd. I gave another listen to my McCartney II and single versions, back to back. I always wondered why I liked my 45 better!

Those handclaps (or whatever they are)? When I first heard the album version, I thought the vinyl was scratched! I took it off the turntable to examine the vinyl.

Though I like the live version, I've always preferred the studio version. It's quirky and fun. And the video was a major sensation in the early days of VH1.